Script:
On this platform, we draw your attention to two remarkable examples of the quilter's art, made in 1890 and 1900 by Josephine Fitch Balash, daughter of Josefa Carrillo and Henry Fitch. The quilt top on the left is pieced in the traditional set Tumbling Blocks, while the finished quilt on the right shows Attic Windows. Both quilts are made of a variety of beautiful silks, outlined in colorful embroidery.
Script:
The first people, ancestors of the Pomo and Wapo, lived in this area for thousands of years, managing their environment without formal agriculture. Life for the successful hunter-gatherers was closely tied to the seasons. As food resources became available during the year, women gathered and processed berries, seeds, nuts, roots, greens, mushrooms, and tubers. Men fished and hunted deer, elk, rabbit, other mammals, and birds. Large quantities of food were collected and stored to be eaten during the winter months.
Script:
Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With silver bells, and cockle shells, and pretty maids all in a row. The most popular explanation of the origins of this rhyme identifies Mary as Mary I of England, daughter of King Henry VIII. During her reign, Mary, a staunch Catholic, ordered nearly 300 executions of Protestants who refused to renounce their faith. Mary earned the title Bloody Mary for these acts, even though her tally pales in comparison to her father's, which was believed to number in the tens of thousands.
Script:
Mid-20th century America was host to a fad in holiday decorating that has since found its way into museums across the country—aluminum Christmas trees. They were the first artificial Christmas trees that were not green in color. A Chicago company called Modern Coatings, Inc. manufactured the first aluminum Christmas trees on a commercial scale in 1955.
Script:
Pilots in the Army Air Corps collected a distinctive memento of their travels in the form of a short snorter, a band of currency from every country the pilot visited, stuck together with tape and signed by other soldiers. Bob Wade's short snorter, which he still has, is 20 feet long. He keeps it in a special wallet that he had made for it in India.
Script:
Historians strive to present a balanced view of history, but their efforts are often influenced by the abundance or scarcity of information that is available to them after an event. In particular, the history of war is often skewed in favor of the side that won, because the winners survived and the losers perished. Stories of victories tend to be passed along more enthusiastically than stories of defeat, and the winning side's cause takes on an added significance in the light of their victory.
